Induction hanging mechanism for starting sheets in an electrolyte refinery for metals



Feb. 4. 1969 KUNIYA SASAKI 3,425,684

INDUCTION HANGING MECHANISM FOR STARTING SHEETS IN AN ELECTROLYTE REFINERY FOR METALS Filed Oct. 5, 1967 Sheet of 5 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS 4. 969 KUNIYA SASAKI 3,

INDUCTION HANGING MECHANISM FOR STARTING SHEETS IN AN ELECTROLYTE REFINERY FOR METALS Filed Oct. 5, 1967 Sheet 3 of 5 INVENTCR BYLdrz/Zzm; M, I HMAIIZA aw ATTORNEYJ Feb. 4, 196 KUNIYA SASAKI 3, 5,

INDUCTION HANGING MECHANISM FOR STARTING SHEETS IN AN ELECTRQLYTE REFINERY FOR METALS Filed Oct- 5, 1967 Sheet 3 of 5 FIG.4

INVENTOR BYwajio-m/ M fl w h wm ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A mechanism for transposing starting sheets from a horizontal state to a hung state comprises a rotatably supported shaft, a substantially S-shaped supporting member with a part extended in the diametral direction of said shaft and another part extended in the reverse direction, a slip stopping arm extended at one end toward the reversely extended part forming a curved portion of said supporting member, pressed at the other end against a fixed part with a spring and pivoted to the supporting member between both ends and means for rotating said rotatably supported shaft by 90 degree. The mechanism transposes the starting sheet without distortion thereof.

This invention relates to an induction hanging mechanism for starting sheets in an electrolytic refinery plant for metals.

An electrolytic refinery for such metals as, for example, copper and nickel is formed of a series of starting sheet preparing machine, constant pitch unloading equipment, starting sheet feed-in equipment, overhead travelling crane, electrolytic cell, cathode washing and piling equipment and carrier conveyor.

The present invention is a mechanism for transposing starting sheets in an electrolytic refining from a horizontal state to a hung state in the starting sheet preparing machine among the above mentioned series of equipments.

An object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism whereby a starting sheet can be transposed without being distorted.

It is required that this kind of starting sheet should be a flat sheet having no distortion. Therefore, such strain is removed by keeping the sheet horizontal in a press or the like. However, the sheet is so thin that, when it is erected, unless it is handled with care, the sheet will be again distorted and will be no longer able to be used.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view showing a scheme of the lay-out of an electrolytic refinery;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view showing an embodiment of the mechanism according to the present invention;

FIGURE 3 is a side view of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a magnified view of a part of FIGURE 3 to explain the operation of the mechanism of the present invention;

FIGURE 5 is an elevation of a part of the mechanism illustrated in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a view showing an example of a mechanism for the rotation by 180 degrees to be used for the mechanism according to the present invention;

FIGURE 7 is an elevation of a starting sheet to be handled in the mechanism of the present invention;

FIGURE 8 is a side view of FIGURE 7.

An electrolytic refinery for metals shall be explained with reference to FIGURE 1. Stripped starting sheets contained in a pallet are conveyed to a starting sheet preparing machine A by means of a roller conveyor and the starting sheets prepared in the starting sheet preparing machine A are arranged at a determined pitch on a conice stant pitch unloading equipment B. Then the starting sheets on the constant pitch unloading equipment are put into a starting sheet feed-in equipment C and are hung in an electrolytic cell D by means of an overhead travelling crane. The cathods thus made and pulled out of the electrolytic cell are transferred onto a cathode washing and piling equipment E, are washed, have bars pulled out and are piled continuously. The piled products are conveyed with a carrier conveyor F and are then taken out.

The present invention is to be fitted to the starting sheet preparing machine among the above mentioned series of equipments and comprises a supporting part extended in the diametral direction of a rotatably supported shaft, then bent by 180 degrees and extended in the reverse direction; a slip stopping arm extended at one end toward the extention in the reverse direction of the curved portion of said supporting part which is pressed at the other end against a fixed part with a spring and pivoted properly to the supporting part between both ends; and a device for rotating said rotatably supported shaft by or degrees.

There shall be explained a transferring device for electrode sheets for electrically (electrolytically) refining metals wherein each metal sheet 12 is fitted with hanging metal loops 13 through which is passed a hanging bar 14 as shown in FIGURES 7 and 8. I

In FIGURES 2 to 5, 1 is a shaft supported with bearings 2. Two supporting parts 3 extended in the diametral direction, then bent by 180 degrees and extended in the reverse direction are parallelly provided on said shaft 1. 4 is a slip stopping arm fitted swingably to the shaft 1, extended at one end toward the extension in the reverse direction of the supporting part 3 and pressed at the other end against a fixed part '5 with a spring 6 and supsupported so as to always take a fixed position. -In this embodiment, the slip stopping arm 4 is fitted to the shaft 1 for convenience but may be pivoted to the other fixed part. The shaft 1 can be rotated by 90 or 180 degrees through a Geneva wheel 8 by an electric motor 7 provided with a reduction gear. The Geneva wheel 8 is well known and is illustrated in FIGURE 6. Therein, a cam on one side a is fixed to the motor 7 side and a cam on the other side b is fixed to the shaft 1 so that, whenever the cam on one side a is rotated by a half rotation, the cam on the other side b may be rotated by 45 degrees. The motor 7 is controlled with a proper limit switch so that the cam on one side a may be stopped every one or two rotations and the shaft 1 may be rotated by 90 or 180 degrees. The device for rotating the shaft 1 by 90 or 180 degrees can be formed also of cams of any other form and any other gears and racks.

The operation of the mechanism of the present invention is as follows. First of all, one of the supporting parts 3 is positioned horizontally as directed in the direction in which starting sheets come by being conveyed. The metal sheet 12 with the hanging gar 14 directed forward is conveyed onto each supporting part 3 with the hanging bar 14 hung on a notch 10 of a chain conveyor 9 (FIGURE 3). At this time, the hanging bar 14 will push away one end of each slip stopping arm 4 against the spring 6 and will be moved into the curved part of each supporting part '3. Then, the shaft .1 will rotate first by 90 degrees to position the metal sheet 12 vertically from the horizontal position. Though the supporting part 3 supports the metal sheet 12 over the entire length, as the supporting part 3 rotates anticlockwise in FIGURES 3 and 4, the metal sheet 12 will come out of the supporting part 3 and will be bent by its own weight. In the present invention, in order to prevent the metal sheet 12 from being bent by sliding on the supporting part 3 and coming out of the supporting part 3, the mechanism is made as 'follows.

In FIGURE 4, as the supporting part 3 inclines, the hanging bar 14 will be gradually lifted and will tend to slip down along the supporting part 3 as indicated by the arrow. However, as the hanging bar 14 has passed through the shortest clearance X in the horizontal direction between the slip stopping arm 4 and the supporting part 3 by pushing away the slip stopping arm 4 against the spring 6 and the slip stopping arm 4 can not rotate clockwise due to the fixed part 5, the hanging bar 14 will be supported by the tip of the slip stopping arm 4 and the metal sheet 12 will be supported so that its end may not come out of the end of the supporting part 3. However, when the slip stopping arm 4 does not rotate but keeps a fixed position and only the supporting part 3 rotates by substantially 90 degrees, the clearance Y in the vertical direction between the supporting part 3 and the slip stopping arm 4 will become so large that the hanging bar 14 will drop through between the supporting part 3 and the slip stopping arm 4 onto the next conveyor 11 (FIG- URE 3). While the supporting part 3 further rotates by 90 degrees, the hanging bar 14 will be conveyed out of the locus of the outermost end of the supporting part 3 by means of the conveyor 11. In this embodiment, as the supporting parts 3 are provided symmetrically at a spacing of 180 degrees, in the case of the rotation by 180 degrees, the outside of the curved portion of the supporting part 3 on the other side will act to push the hanging bar 14 in the direction of the movement of conveyor 11.

Two supporting parts 3 are provided symmetrically at a spacing of 180 degrees in the above embodiment. But, there may be one supporting part 3. They may be reciprocated by 180 degrees without being rotated. When the vertically erected metal sheet is to be pulled out downward as it is, it may be swung by degrees.

Further, a simple metal sheet to which the hanging bar is not attached may be held between the slip stopping arm and the supporting part 3 so that it may not slip in a range of a certain angle during the rotation.

What is claimed is:

1. An induction hanging mechanism for starting sheets in an electrolytic refinery for metals comprising a rotatably supported shaft, a supporting part extended in the diametral direction of said shaft, then bent by degrees and extended in the reverse direction, a slip stopping arm extended at one end toward the extension in the reverse direction forming a curved portion of said supporting part, pressed at the other end against a fixed part with a spring and pivoted properly to the supporting part between both ends and means for rotating said rotatably supported shaft by 90 degrees.

2. The mechanism according to claim 1, wherein means for rotating the rotatably supported shaft by 180 degrees is provided.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5/1958 Rejsa 198-33 X 5/1961 Understadt 19833 U.S. Cl. X.R. 

